Prosthetic valve thrombosis in a patient secondary to COVID-19: a case report

Abstract

A well-known and dangerous complication of COVID-19 infection is the development of hypercoagulation, which leads to thrombosis of various localization. Therefore, the problem of anticoagulant therapy was widely discussed during the first months of the pandemic and continues to be relevant. At the same time, concomitant cardiac pathology is associated with a more severe course of COVID-19 and higher risks of complications and mortality. Therefore, patients who underwent cardiac surgery require special attention. Individuals with prosthetic metal heart valves must constantly receive anticoagulant therapy, however, the literature describes cases of intracardiac thrombotic complications despite anticoagulation during COVID-19 infection. Currently, there are no randomized studies on this issue, and only individual clinical cases provide this information. The aim of the work was to describe a clinical case of thrombosis at the left ventricular apex during COVID-19 infection in a patient with a prosthetic aortic valve who received adequate warfarin therapy and to compare the tactics of patient management and therapeutic outcomes with other clinical cases. Materials and methods. The patient was followed-up after aortic valve replacement for 2 years. During the visits, a general clinical examination, laboratory examinations – clinical blood test, blood glucose, urea, creatinine, bilirubin, INR, NT-proBNP, echocardiography were performed. Results. The patient with a congenital heart defect, a condition after aortic valve replacement, mitral and tricuspid valve annuloplasty (15.03.2022) due to bicuspid aortic valve, combined aortic defect with predominance of stage III-IV regurgitation; stage III secondary arterial hypertension; chronic heart failure IIA, functional class III, stage C, reduced systolic left ventricular function; a two-chamber pacemaker due to complete AV blockade; paroxysmal atrial flutter presented to a cardiologist with worsening shortness of breath and weakness one month after a moderate COVID-19 infection. The patient received bisoprolol 5 mg, amiodarone 200 mg, spironolactone 50 mg, perindopril 8 mg, warfarin 5 mg, INR was carefully controlled, at presentation – 3.7. Echocardiography revealed a left ventricular apex thrombus, a decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) from 46 % to 38 %. Aspirin 75 mg/day, torasemide 10 mg/day, dapagliflozin 10 mg/day, and metabolic therapy were added to the treatment. After 1 month, the patient’s condition improved, no thrombus was detected in the left ventricular cavity, LVEF increased to 46 %. Conclusions. This case demonstrates the problem of careful cardiovascular system state monitoring in patients with prosthetic valves during and after COVID-19, since symptoms of heart cavity or valve thrombosis, worsening heart failure can be mistakenly considered as signs of a viral infection or respiratory failure.

Keywords

• prosthetic valve
• thrombosis
• covid-19
• hypercoagulation
• aortic insufficiency
• heart failure